Sandcastles
by HarrysLily
Summary: Harry takes his boys to the beach, but it doesn't go so well for James. One-Shot


**Sandcastles**

**A/N: I do not own Harry Potter in anyway.**** I hope you like it! This one was fun to write. Please leave a review. :)**

A cool sea breeze blew through Harry's hair, as he stood on the beach outside Shell Cottage. It was rather sunny weather for an afternoon in late March. Although, standing by the ocean gave Harry a chill. He pulled his cloak tighter around himself, observing the waves and the children frolicking in them. Teddy and Victoire were splashing around, somehow ignoring the chill air and the freezing cold water. James and Albus, along with Dominique, played in the sand, some few feet away from Harry.

Harry jumped as Bill suddenly appeared next to him saying, " I don't know how they can handle how cold it is out there."

"They'll probably come running soon," Harry chuckled, "Freezing out here." Harry wrapped his arms around himself, rubbing them to get his blood flowing.

"Yeah," said Bill, watching the two in the water, "So how's Ginny?"

Harry sighed. "She's doing well. Just tired."

Ginny was seven months pregnant with their third child. She was becoming impatient with being pregnant, and it was getting harder for her to take care of the boys. The boys were their normal craziness. James seemed to always cause mischief around the house. Albus constantly followed his parents, especially Ginny, allowing them almost no privacy time. Ginny was on maturity leave from work and Harry had started getting off work earlier to help Ginny with the boys. They also did not want a repeat of what happened with Albus' birth two years ago. If Ginny went into labor early, Harry needed to be there.

Harry had come home last night to James screaming and Albus whining and pulling on his mother's robes. James sat on the second step of the staircase screaming his head off. Ginny looked stressed out and when she saw Harry she said James was in trouble and that she was going up for a bath. Harry decided he would give Ginny a day off today. He decided to take the boys, along with Teddy, to Shell Cottage to play with their cousins.

James, Albus, and Dominique sat in the sand playing with it. A cool wind blew through and tousled the boys' black hair and the little girl's strawberry blonde hair. James and Dominique were building sand castles. Albus was just playing with the sand. He grabbed a handful of sand and put it in his mouth.

"No! Al!" shouted Dominique, "You can't eat that!" She had learned from a very young age, from her parents and sister, not to eat the sand. You never know what could be in it. Albus looked at her with his round green eyes and dropped the sand. But he grabbed another fist full and brought it close to his mouth. Dominique sighed, her hair whipping around her face, and stood up. She ran to her father and uncle, stumbling over the sand.

"Uncle Harry!" she called, "Al is eating sand!" She made a face.

Harry hurried over to his boys. "Thanks, Dom," he said as he passed her. Harry made it in time to stop Al's hand from entering his mouth. "No, buddy, you can't eat it. It's yucky."

Harry pried Al's fingers open, allowing the sand to fall out of his grasp. Albus began to whimper in protest. Glancing up at him, Harry noticed that he already had a ring of sand around his mouth. The two-year-old's cheeks were pink from the wind and he had a mixture of snot and slobber all over his mouth and nose. Harry picked him up, using Al's shirt to wipe off the snot and drool.

"Daddy, look!" James gestured ya his sandcastle. He had just finished moulding it as he said, "It's Hogwarts!"

"Nice, Jamie!" Harry chuckled, ruffling his four-year-old's hair. The sandcastle looked more like a well-formed hill, with a few towers coming out of it.

Harry trudged his way back up to Bill, Albus still in his arms, squirming.

"So how's the bank?" asked Harry.

"Daddy, down!" Albus wriggled in Harry's arms, trying to free himself.

Harry absentmindedly put him down, as Bill answered, "Oh you know, same old same old."

Harry nodded in agreement, as Albus toddled back to his brother and cousin. James had his back turned as Al came and planted his fists into James' sandcastle; ruining it further by moving his hands around. James turned around to see his castle totally demolished by his little brother.

"NO! AL!" he shrieked.

Harry turned in time to see James forcefully push Al to the ground, and then throw sand at him, making him cry.

"James Sirius!" shouted Harry, rushing over to his boys, "You do not push and throw sand at your brother!" He picked up the bawling little boy, wiping the sand out of his face.

"But Daddy! He ruined my castle!" James shouted angrily, tears starting in his eyes.

"I don't care, that does not mean you can push him," Harry said, firmly. He turned his attention toward Albus, who was still crying. He tried to comfort him and wiped more of the sand off his face. James huffed angrily and kicked more sand.

"James," Harry warned.

Harry saw Bill run past, towards the ocean, as James yelled, "He ruined my sandcastle! He should be in trouble!"

"No! I play!" Al retorted.

"No, you ruined it!" James was now close to tears, "Daddy, fix it!"

"James! Your brother did not know it was your sandcastle. You can just make a new one." Harry sighed. This was always the case between his boys.

"But I liked it how it was!!" shouted James.

"James, stop. Just make a new one," said Harry, glancing out at the water, where Bill had gone. He was trudging back up the beach with Victoire in his arms and Teddy trailing along beside him.

"No! My castle!" James whined, starting to throw a tantrum.

"That's it," Harry stood up and grabbed James by the hand, "We're going inside. It's cold and you're being naughty. C'mon, Dom!"

Dominique was in her own little world playing with sand and sticks. She looked up at her uncle's call. Standing up, she clambered over to him.

"No!" James let his legs give out so Harry was dragging him.

"James Sirius Potter! Stand up right now or we are going home," ordered Harry, shifting Albus in his arms. James stood up but desperately tried to run the other way, still throwing his temper tantrum.

"JAMES." Harry sat Albus down in the sand and grabbed James. He tried to struggle out of Harry's grasp but failed miserably. Harry grabbed his flailing arms and held them tight.

Suddenly, Teddy came running up beside an irritated Harry and a screaming James.

"Harry!" said Teddy, shivering.

"Not now," answered Harry, holding a screaming and kicking James by the waist. Harry made his way up the beach with Dom following, holding Albus' hand. Teddy followed, with Bill and Victoire taking up the back.

Fleur flung the door open as Harry clambered up onto the porch.

"'Arry, ees he alright?" asked Fleur, in her thick French accent.

"He's fine," snapped Harry, "We're just going to go home. Teddy! Grab Albus and bring him along by Floo."

"NO!" James wailed.

Teddy nodded, still shivering and dripping wet. He grabbed Al's hand from Dominique and followed Harry inside, to the fireplace.

"Sorry to leave so quickly," apologized Harry.

"Oh no, eet ees fine," assured Fleur, picking up Dominique.

"NO," cried James still struggling in his father's arms.

"James! Stop!" ordered Harry. James became still for the moment.

"Bye, Teddy," called Victoire, as Harry grabbed some Floo powder and threw it into the fireplace.

"Potter Manor!" he yelled. He and James disappeared in a flash of green flames.

"Bye, Vic," waved Teddy as he too climbed into the fireplace with Al and vanished.

When Harry tumbled out of the fireplace at home, James began to scream and kick again. Harry rushed him up the stairs to James' bedroom and slammed the door.

Ginny waddled out of the kitchen as Teddy and Albus tumbled out of the fireplace.

"Harry?" she called, "Is everything alright?"

"I think James is in trouble," said Teddy. Ginny sighed as Albus ran and hugged her legs.

"Hi, baby," Ginny ruffled Al's hair, "Teddy! Why are you all wet?" She Summoned a towel and wrapped it around the shivering child.

"We were playing in the waves," answered Teddy, pulling the towel around him.

"Well, then let's-" Ginny was cut off by the loud wails of James from upstairs.

"What did he do now?" asked Ginny.

Teddy shrugged. Ginny looked down at Albus playing with some Quidditch players figurines.

He looked up and said, "Jamie pushed me and throwed sand at me."

A moment later, Harry came downstairs with a sniffling James in front of him. Ginny looked at Harry; questions shown in her eyes. Harry leaned down a gave her a swift kiss and muttered, "I'll tell you later."

James made his way over to where his brother sat, playing. Harry squatted down next to them.

"Come, Teddy," said Ginny, "Let's go get you warmed and cleaned up."

She herded her godson out of the room as Harry said, "Al, Jamie has something to tell you. Go on, James."

"I-I'm s-sorry I pushed you," sniffled James.

"And?" prodded Harry.

"And t-threw sand at y-you," James took in gasps of air. Harry rubbed his back, reassuringly.

"What else?" asked Harry.

"D-do you forgive me?"

Albus nodded.

"Al, you need to say you're sorry too. You ruined Jamie's sandcastle."

"I sorry, Jamie," apologized Albus.

James wiped his nose on his sleeve.

"It's ok." He drew his little brother in for a brief hug.

Harry grabbed both his boys into a hug, "I love you, boys." He kissed each of them on the head. "Come on then, let's go get cleaned up and then maybe we can have some hot chocolate."

Smiles spread across the boys' faces. They disentangled themselves from their father's arms, and ran from the room, with Harry following.


End file.
